TRACTORS FOR THE LINCOLN TRIALS
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Main Features of the Weeks-Dungey, Martin, Blackstone, and Santler Models.
THE WEEKS-DUNGEY Simplex agricul tural tural tractor meergoratea several important imprevcxaents'oVor its predecessors. Perhaps the most import*. t:is,the enclosing of the final drive, which is by spar geliirs-and internally-toothed rings. This type of tinal drive is very satisfactory w hen enclosed, bat is liable to wear considerably if not so, and in the latter 'case it. .alp absorbs all, considerable
amount of engine power.
Thefraineef the mae_hine is of channel steel rigidly constructed and welded at the corners. It has the advantageof being quite straight from front to rear. The _engine is a fine piece of 'work. It develops 30 h.p. and its four. cylinders are east en bloc.-The .crankshaft is of chrome nicker steel, heat treated, and the bearings are made of high-class anti-friction metal. s Lubrication is-by pump which draws the oil through .a filter and ,forces it both into the timing gearcase and into the connecting rod troughs. The connecting rod scoops are so designed that they have
the same capacity for discharging the oil out of each trough as the oil pump has capacity for filling them.
A governor is, provided klint this is enclosed in the engine itself. The engine is mounted on three points, a trunnion bearing being. provided at the front end.
The clutch consists, of a steel disc located between two wire-woven asbestos rings. It is completely enclosed.
The gearbox gives three speeds forward and a reverse, the change-speed lever being in the centre of the tractor.
The drive is taken from the gearbox through a leather disc flexible coupling to the final drive shaft. This shaft is provided with a differential clutch operated by a lever at the left of the driver's seat. When working an the straight this clutch is in action, no that both wheels are driven, but for turning at headlands the clutch is disengaged and only the permanently fixed .wheel is then driven; this enables the tractor.to be turned in a small radius.'
Final drive is -by .spur pinioins and internallytoothed rings bolted to the-rear wheels, Steering is by rack and pinion to the front wheels, while the main clutch, brake and -throttle are operated by
pedals. •
In order-to make the tractor more generally useful, spare travelling wheels shod with solid rubber tyres .ogn be provided as extra. with these .wheelsfitted, the tractor is capable of hauling loads upto
three tons on ordinary roads.. . for driv, ing agricultural machinery is fitted to the back of the tractor and is driven from the back axle countershaft. It can be detached When not required. The machine is intended to run on Paraffin, and the Zenith carburetter with which it-is provided is fitted with a patent vaporizer for this fuel. Cooling is adequately performed by a radiator in :Which the water circulation is maintained by a centrifugal pump driven by skew gearing from the engine.
The present price of this tractor is :EpO, and the extra set of wheels fitted with rubber tyres amounts tOt70 extra.
_ Vartin's.Cultivator Co., Ltd. will have two vehicles on trial. One is a self-contained tractor and 'plough, and the other is a tractor of the ordinary type. We "do not prOpose to deal fully with the ordinary type tractor, except to say that it is fitted with it 'channel steel frame, ha:s an automobile type four-cYlindered engine of 41 ins. _bore and 5i ins. stroke; with cast radiator, and a final drive consisting of spur gears and -internally-toothed rings:. The steering Of the eentrally-pivoted front axle is by chain, and the machine is of substantial construction throughout. The gearing gives two speeds forward and a reverge, the gears are totally enclosed arid run in oil, Skefko ball bearings are fitted in the' gearbox, and the tractor is spring mounted on both axles. The spur type differential is carried on the countershaft.
-The more interesting Of the -t*o machines is the self ,-contained tractor and plongh. This is of the endless chain-traek-tread type. It is self-contained and can easily be operated by one Man.If also -has the advantage of setting its awn• ridges. The lifting of the plough is done by means of a friction dutch of the V.-grooved type worked from the engine, So soon as the ploughshares have reached their correct height, a cam automatically throws the lever out of engagement_ A similar action takes place when the shares are dropped. The 'depth of cut is adjusted by
varying the chain tracks. . .
The speed of the 'engine is governed so. that the machine will not exceed 3 m.p.h. Only one speed forward and a reverse are provided. A single lever controls the engine clutch and also the two dog clutches to the track drives by which the vehicle is tirned, one traektheing thrown out of action so that the' other pivots round it. This ma-chine is capable of ploughing from five to six -acres per day with a fuel consumption of from two-and a quarter to three gallons per acre ; this consumption, of course, 'depends upon the nature and condition of the soil. The plough is of the three-furrow type, but the rear Share can be detached so that it can be used as a two-furrow plough for working on heavy land.
The plough frame can be detached from the chassis anl replaced by a, wheeled undercarriage, thus con verting the machine into an agricultural tractor for working mowers, binders, etc.
The Blackstone Creeper-track tractor is an interesting machine which includes in its construction quite a number of novelties. It. is of the caterpillar type and is provided with a three-cylindered engine which starts on compressed air, the fuel being injected in a manner similar to that used on Diesel type engines, but in this engine the ignition is electric. At 706 r.p.m. it develops 25 h.p.
All the transmission gear is totally enclosed, and the gearing gives two speeds and a reverse. Steering is effected by controlling the action of the differential, and in consequence the relative speeds of the tracks.
It is claimed that it will haul a three-furrow plough in almost any class of' soil. The fuel used is paraffin. The tracks are pivoted about the rear axle, but at the front the frame of the chassis rests en a single point so that freedom of movement of the tracks is facilitated.
The other model which will be shown is a wheeled machine in which two ordinary driving wheels replace the tracks, -and the front end of the chassis is carried by a pair of castor wheels. Everything else about this model is similar to the chain-track type.
One of the most interesting machines at the trials will be the Santler one-way plough. This machine has a heavy rectangular frame of girders and angles balanced on a centrally-disposed pair of driving wheels. At each end of this frame is a castor wheel which is controlled by the steering gear. The machine can travel in either direction.
Suspended from one side of the chassis is a plough frame which carries two sets of -shares, one at each end, and facing in opposite directions. By means of a lever either set of shares can be lowered into the mund. The driver's platform is in the centre of the machine over the axle. It is provided-with seat, dutch pedal, steering column, etc., in duplicate, and, to give the correct sense of rotation of the steering wheel, this can be changed over from one steering column tothe other.
A two-cylindered paraffin engine of 25 h.p. drives through a coneclutch to a two-speed gearbox and thence to a bevel-driven differential and cross-shafts behind the main axle, the final transmission being by spur pinions meshing with large gear rings bolted to the wheels.
The Avery tractor is of the four-wheeled type, provided with a four-cylindered engine of 4i ins. bore by 7 ins. istroke. Its normal speed is 700 r.p.ra., and it is fitted with a, governor. The gearing gives two speeds forward and a reverse, the forward speeds being 2-i and ,q m.p.h. • An interesting three-wheeled machine is the Maskell self-contained tractor plough. This drives on one side only, the driving wheel running on unploughed land, as also does one of the idlers, the other, which is of small dimensions, runs behind the plough. A four-cylindered engine of 25 h.p. is fitted and this runs at a normal speed of 1,200‘r.p.in. The gearing allows of speeds from V,. to 4i m.p.h. in a forward dirction and one to four m.p.h. in reverse.
The Pick is another three-wheeled machine, with a single wheel in the front and two at the rear. It is fitted with an engine of 30 h.p., which runs at 800 ap.m. Forward speeds of 11 and 4é m.p.h. are provided. Final drive is by roller chain and spur gears.
Up to the time of going to press the only machine that has seen withdrawn from the Mrials is the Samson, by F. S. Bennett, Ltd. This machine is delayed in transit by reason of the American railway strike. It is also probable that the Case models will, for the same reason, fail to arrive in time.
With this article we conclude our brief technical descriptions of tractors for the Lincoln Trials. As there are probably many readers of this journal who may not have kept the previous issues containing the other articles of the series, it will not be out of place to give a short list of the issues in which the descriptions of particular tractors appeared.
In our issue dated July 15th was a classification of the competingmachines with a brief comparison of their technical features. The issue for July S.2nd contained descriptions of the .Alldays, Garner and Austin ; July 29th, Crawley, Emerson and Forcison ; August 5th, Whiting-Bull, Titan and Mogul ; August 12th, Saunderson, Moline, Overtime, and Eros Attachment; August 19th, Illinois and Burford-Cleveland ; August 26th, F.I.A:T. and Gray ; September 2nd, the two Case models ; September 9th, Wallis Junior, G.O., Surnmerscales and International
Junior ; September 16th, Clayton, Omnitractor, Glasgow and Mann. j